natursyn.dk

This year has not been my most productive in terms of photography since I always seem to be busy with work and daily chores.  However, yesterday I did slip my small camera into my pocket when Yiming and I went on a bike ride around Kiel to the beautiful sight of autumn foliage before it all will be gone.

Tree trunks

Sycamore maple leaf

Lake by Holtenau

Yiming riding in the Stadtpark

Yellow foliage by Knoop

Poplar leaves on the ground

Ever since I moved to Kiel more than a year ago I haven’t posted many pictures on my blog. One reason is that I find the surrounding of Kiel a bit dull because every square meter is managed and taken care of. When you go to the beaches you know that they will look the same year after year due to coastal protection. When you walk in a meadow or a bog everything of interest for nature nerds like me will be fenced behind barbed wires. In this sense Germany is completely opposite of Sweden’s “allemannsretten” where everyone are free to utilize the common nature areas. But then again, Germany is densely populated and people tend to let their dogs loose everywhere.

That said, Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein do indeed have a lot of areas of interest and they are easy to access with a well maintained grid of paths and roads. This past weekend I rode my bike along the Schwentine river, called Sventana by the Slavic people who considered it holy. Beside the nice scenery I was very excited to find a newly restored habitat made especially for frogs. At high noon the frogs were passing their time in the surface of the water without making their ear deafening calls and it was quite easy getting close to them.

Schwentine river

Rastorfer Mühle

Canada geese (Branta canadensis)

Diffuse-leaved Water Buttercup (Ranunculus aquatilis var. diffusus)

Edible frog (Pelophylax esculentus)

Edible frog (Pelophylax esculentus)

Fence posts

Banded agrion (Agrion virgo)

An old oak tree

Back when I was a PhD student I lived in Copenhagen for a while. It is a truly unique city with all its young energy and inspiration coupled with century old architecture and traditions. But in the few months I lived there I never truly got to see the city because I felt I was always too busy. So Yiming and I went there for a long weekend in the end of May that coincided with the carnival, a marathon race and nice weather. We went to see some of most typical things of Copenhagen and Danish culture such as Nyhavn, Tivoli and smørrebrød (a kind of sandwich that I don’t fancy at all). One thing you immediately notice as soon as you step out of the train station is the wide bicycle paths with people riding their Christiania bikes (cargo bikes) often with 2-3 kids in it.  As an almost full fledged vegan I also found that there are many more places with wholesome vegetarian food (at least as an option on the menu) than there used to be albeit it can be a wee bit expensive eating out. We also went for a stroll in the Botanical Garden that had a display of beautiful half-spheres in the lake. Highly recommended. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art was also a very pleasant visit.

Danish 'Smørrebrød'

Nyhavn

Tivoli

Light show in Tivoli

Three Piece Reclining by Henry Moore at Louisiana

Kids sitting in a Christiania bike watching Copenhagen Marathon

Copenhagen Carnival

Half-spheres made of glass fiber and dried plant materials in the Botanical Garden

Delicious sushi dinner at Sticksnsushi

I would like to promote a youtube video of the Christmas carol, Silent Night, arranged and played by Claus D Jensen showing pictures from my photo album “Night“. You can read more about Claus’ work on his blog.

Merry Christmas!

A benefit of being a researcher is that you visit a lot of different places by attending conferences or being involved in field work. The drawback, especially as a postdoc, is that you constantly have to apply for funding and move a lot. For now at least, I’ve secured funding for a while leaving me time to focus on my research full time.

One of the project I’ll be involved in is looking at food web ecology in the Catalan Pyrenees. The sampling probably won’t begin before 2011 but that didn’t stop me from attending a workshop in October on mountain ecology and climate change in Obergurgl, Austria. The most fascinating part was walking along a glacial moraine where a glacier has retreated with record pace the last few decades. I also went to the Catalan Pyrenees to seek out some potential field sites and to assist with retrieving data from thermostats in mountain lakes. A lot of the lakes were already frozen so at times we had to jump in a look for them.

Obergurgl in Austria

Obergurgl in Austria

Walking along the the Rotmoos moraine, Austria

Searching for thermostats. Engorgs-Malniu, Catalonia.

Alex is fetching a thermostat. Romedo, Catalonia

Mountain lake in Colomèrs, Catalonia

Walking in Romedo, Catalonia

Vall Ferrera, Catalonia

One of my favorite locations in Romedo, Catalonia

Since I broke off my stay at UC Santa Cruz have been a guest researcher at “Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Stable Isotope Research”. Yiming & I are so fortunate to live in an apartment less than 2 km from the lab and usually I prefer walking there. Although Kiel is considered a dull and uninspiring town in terms of its architecture (80% of the old town was destroyed during the last war) it has many green areas with beautiful trees that I happen to pass through on my way to work.

I have not yet made much progress on my ongoing projects  partially because I’m waiting for new funding and partially because I’m getting trained in operating instruments in the lab. Right now I’m helping Yiming measuring hydrogen isotopes in plant waxes extracted from ocean sediment cores. Climate researcher are working non-stop these days to acquire such data because are informative of precipitation records in the past and how terrestrial plant communities have changed. This can lead us to a better understanding of the changes in temperatures and weather patterns we’re experiencing.

We live on this street

Farmer's market on Blücherplatz - next to where we live

Kiel's old water tower has kind of a Bismarck inspired style to it

Students from the nearby vocational training school in the background

Fall is here

The lab has the long and rather cumbersome name "Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Stable Isotope Research"

In the first week of June, Yiming & I first went to Møns Klint in Denmark, then Potsdam in Germany and finally Skagen in Denmark. Møns Klint  (or in English ‘the Cliffs of Møn’) is one of the most geologically interesting sites in Denmark made of remains of shells deposited more than 70 millions years. As a biologist I’m always amazed at the large and unique diversity of plants and insects in this location. Next we went to Potsdam that used to be the residence of the Prussian kings and famously known for hosting the meeting between the  victorious allied leaders in the summer of 1945. However, we did not come to Potsdam to appreciate the historical sites but for attending a conference on stable isotopes. Since Yiming had an appointment in Northern Jutland right after the conference we hastily went back north. This time we visited another scenic area, Skagen where Kattegat and Skagerak meet, and Råbjerg Mile, which is a giant sand dune of about 1 sq. km.

View of Møns Klint

The Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

The landscape at Møns Klint is spectacular

Impressive gardens in Park Sanssouci

The New Palace in Park Sanssouci

Yiming sitting in front of one of the many gates in Potsdam

Yiming walking along the Skagen beach

Råbjerg Mile is a large sand dune of about 1 sq. km.

Yiming tried to take a picture of while I was jumping.

I have taken a leave of absence from UC Santa Cruz. My girlfriend Yiming fell ill a few weeks ago and to help her with a speedy and full recovery I am now staying with her in Kiel, Germany where she has a postdoc position. For the time being I am looking for funding or a position to continue my research in Kiel. I may come back to Santa Cruz this summer for a few weeks to do some sampling.

The day before leaving Santa Cruz I went for a walk in the university aboretum taking pictures of wildlife and flowers. The most exciting moment of the day was when I saw a bobcat.

Spring colors

Flowers

Old oak

View from below an oak

Resting deers

Bobcat

Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna)

Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna)

Allen's hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)

Much of California has been influenced by human activities. In the Santa Cruz we have a former ranch where virtually all redwood trees were lost for lumber or to fuel kilns converting limestone to lime. Part of the ranch is called Pogonip, which is a beautiful hilly area where the trees have been allowed to grow back. I go running there every weekend and brought my little pocket camera along while it was pouring down.

Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) is the only overwintering hummingbird in Santa Cruz. It is also the most common hummingbird on the West Coast and is relative to other hummingbird medium sized (10 cm, ~4 g). Hummingbirds have one of the highest metabolic rates among vertebrates and their heart rate can reach 1260 beats per min (Lasiewski and Lasiewski, 1967)! To maintain this exceptional high metabolism hummingbirds primarily live off nectar. But they also feed on spiders and small insects to get proteins.

In the Arboretum located at UC Santa Cruz it is quite easy to get close to these birds when they suck nectar from Erica flowers. After a few visits to the garden watching their behavior I found out that once I sat still on the ground for a few minutes they would get within the shooting range of my camera. Beside the pictures displayed below, I have posted a gallery of hummingbirds here.